AURORA | After multiple changes to Aurora’s “public invited to be heard” at the beginning of city council meetings, Monday’s was quieter, still absent decorum and one speaker launched news of a lawsuit linked to the death of Kilyn Lewis.
Earlier on Monday, Mayor Mike Coffman posted on his Facebook page, “No settlements for meritless lawsuits.” The post said that no matter how much the family or the protesters disrupt the city council meetings, their demands will not be met.
“There will be no formal apology, no check written to the Lewis family, and the APD officer responsible for the fatal shooting of Kilyn Lewis, who was cleared in a subsequent investigation, will not be disciplined,” Coffman said in the post.
The unarmed Black man was shot by an Aurora SWAT officer in May 2024 at an apartment parking lot while Lewis was being arrested in connection with attempted murder charges. The group has attended city council meetings for months, regularly disrupting the meetings.
Monday night, while the “public invited to be heard” was beginning, activist MiDian Shofner, a primary spokesperson for the Lewis protesters, announced that the group and the family of Lewis were not the ones suing the city over Lewis’ death.
She said that Denver news TV station 9News was preparing a lawsuit against the Aurora Police Department linked to a “lack of transparency” in the shooting.
9News posted an online story Tuesday, announcing the lawsuit and their effort to seek complete and unedited police body cam videos linked to the Lewis shooting.
“You continue to pretend that the Lewis family is coming, asking you to sign a check,” Shofner said, referring to Coffman’s Facebook remarks. “I’m just here to inform you that you’re not being sued by the Lewis family. You’re being sued by 9News.”
On Tuesday morning, the Lewis family and Shofner issued a statement.
“The family of Kilyn E. Lewis stands firm in their demand for full transparency and accountability in the fatal shooting of their beloved son and brother,” the statement said. “We have been informed that Channel 9 News of Denver is pursuing a lawsuit against the Aurora Police Department under the Colorado Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act (ELEIA), citing APD’s failure to release the full body camera footage of Kilyn’s death.”
The Sentinel and other Colorado media have asked for and not received all police bodycam video recordings from just before, during and after the shooting, unedited. Aurora police previously told the Sentinel that the request was denied because the shooting was still under investigation, which is no longer the case.
Lawyers for 9News insist state law makes clear the entire video must now be released.
“Members of the press and public have the right under the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act to access unedited versions of all bodycam videos that captured the police shooting of Kilyn Lewis — not just the selectively edited versions released by the Aurora Police Department,” said Rachael Johnson, the Colorado Local Legal Initiative attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Access to bodycam footage and other videos showing the actions of police officers is critically important to the public’s ability to hold law enforcement accountable.”
City officials said Tuesday afternoon they’ve already complied.
“The city has already released all unaltered and unredacted body-worn camera video of the Lewis incident itself as the law requires,” Aurora spokesperson Ryan Luby said in a statement “The complaint of officer misconduct which prompted the release of the video was specific to the shooting. Consequently, the videos APD has released to date are specific to the shooting.”
9News reporters say the videos are unusual in how they begin and end and the length of the videos, indicating they’ve been edited, according to their online story.
Aurora City Attorney Pete Schulte said police had provided segments of video that the Lewis family initially requested, depicting when Lewis was shot, which he says is compliant with Enhancing Law Enforcement Integrity Act.
Lewis protesters have for months called for the firing of SWAT Officer Michael Dieck. Both a local district attorney and Aurora police chief have said that Dieck’s shooting of Lewis was not a crime, and Dieck did not stray from Aurora police procedure during the arrest.
Beyond news of the lawsuit, Schulte said the city council and he are still unsure what the Lewis family wants at this point.
“This is a tragedy. Somebody lost their life, but it was a lawful shooting, and that is the position of the city.”Schulte said.
The remainder of the public comment section was not unlike comments during every meeting for the past several months.
Only five people spoke at the lectern. Two more were announced but never answered when called, and the entire “public invited to be heard” lasted less than 30 minutes.
Four of the five speakers were from the Justice for Kylin Lewis group, a cadre of friends, family members and activists linked to the death of Lewis.
Not part of the official city council agenda, the commentary isn’t recorded nor live-streamed, and it no longer requires city council members to even sit on the dais.
Though their presence wasn’t required, each council member sat in person on Monday night to hear the public speak, except Councilmember Crystal Murillo, absent from Monday’s meetings.
One commenter Monday was a resident regular speaker, Tanya Tabacheck. She said she had been frustrated for a while because of the constant disruptions caused by Lewis protesters at the council meetings.
I would hope that City Council will in the future record and give the public the messages from others at the meetings. I believe we deserve to know what folks are saying. I’m saddened that the Lewis mob has robbed me of this and if one is set to blame the entire blame falls on them while Council has just searched for a way to not have them continue to disrupt our City’s work and governance.
No matter what the Lewis Clan and the Sentinel Blog reports, most all of us in Aurora continue to believe that its, “all about the money”. Not a nickel to them, is what I hope and is what they deserve. You raise criminals in my community, you should be punished.;